Genesis 49:7 Commentary and Bible Study

Here is the sentence upon them: ‘I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.’ In other words, they will not be distinct tribes like the others. They will still be identifiable, but they won't have their own property. This was not only a punishment, but also a remedy for a vicious streak. If you can’t be trusted as a leader, you can still be subservient and be a serving community. Not one that has the ability to enhance itself, or stand on its own feet.In the case of Simeon they got just a scrap of land within Judah’s territory, but they didn't have a proper territory of their own. In fact Simeon seem to be under judgment in a number of ways. In the first great census of the children of Israel, they had a lot of people, but by the time of the second census their numbers had been cut to about a third, so they didn't seem to grow like the other tribes. It was as though God was saying in a very public way, ‘That spirit is so wrong among my people, that I'm going to disable your entire tribe of descendants from ever behaving like that again, and I'm going to disperse you among the other tribes. You will be blessed as people; you will have children; you will continue to exist as a tribe, piecemealed around, but you'll never be able to take up arms together, or do anything in dreadful anger as you did before.’ They were blessed; they came under the blessing, but they didn't get a distinct and a large territory, nor did they ever grow. Simeon degenerated into almost a nomadic people. They were not strong and the spiteful streak had to be worked out.Now with Levi it is a different story again. The Levites became the teachers of Israel; that was a tremendous privilege. They were blessed in spite of this judgment. Their descendants became the regular teachers of the people of God, but they had no territory, so the prophecy of Jacob was perfectly brought to pass. They were scattered all around the land ministering to the people as Levites, and they were given just the cities of refuge. But it is extraordinary. It is as though, in order to put this lesson across, God said that these two tribes would never be able to behave in that excessively violent and carnal manner again. ‘I will disperse them, and in that situation, I will bless them.’ It was a marvellous way of preventing their sinful tendency expressing itself. God clipped their wings, as it were, and that violence would not be permitted among his people. God can convert even this negative judgment into something useful. Levi was capable of loyalty. When Moses came down and called to order, Levi showed they were capable of loyalty to the truth. Eventually they did have a representative in the New Testament – Barnabas.